The Footwear Industry has SURVIVED, and we are here in 2022 ready for another year of challenges and opportunities. Yes, we know, it’s been a tough two years and there were causalities along the way, but we know how resilient we are. As with every year, SAFLEC strives to bring only the best and most relevant to you. And… it is only you who can point us towards the right direction, to help you export better. So, we open our newsletter this year (as we do at the beginning of every year, making a kind request for you to send an email to nerisha@saflec.co.za with any new ideas or strategies you may have to help us help YOU export better. We are really excited to have EFLC (eThekwini Footwear and Leather Cluster) back for the next three years to help us support you better and that is thanks to Anu Pather and the eThekwini Municipality.

Kindly note that physical trade show funding is currently still closed at the DTIC. We are hoping to hear something soon, but in the interim, as we have over the past two years, we have come up with alternatives with extremely limited funding to ensure that we are still promoting members throughout Africa and globally. We have kept our training constant and relevant. We are working as hard as we can with our Provincial Agencies to keep promotions going.  We are discussing using our limited budget to take smaller groups with shared company and entity funding so that we can continue our export mandate.  We will be sure to keep you abreast as we progress with discussions. And here again, we invite your suggestions. We have had some proud moments too, winning the Best Promotional Agencies Globally in 2020 and being recognized as the first entity to start promotions virtually globally as lauded by Mode Pelle (Italian magazine). We were also the only export council to come up in one of the top three promotional entities in the SADAC region via USA US AID and at the ECDC 2021 Southern Africa Regional Exporter Awards. WESGRO, a multisectoral Government-funded entity, took first, SAFLEC 2nd and Lesotho promotional Agencies, another Government-funded multisectoral, took third place.

The minute we found out that Footwear and Leather Goods were now included in the Export Credit Insurance of the ECIC, SAFLEC and EFLC immediately arranged a webinar to tell you more about it on 26 January 2022. Paul Mojalefa from ECIC, who has 19 years of experience in the field, presented to over 18 members on how to go about insuring an export order.  

Paul informed the audience that they were mandated by Government to include footwear and leather as well as SMMEs in the offerings as of June last year. They are also now offering short term contracts, which was not available in the past.   ECIC previously only insured large, summed capital equipment exports amongst others and not our sector.  So, this of course is a very welcome inclusion, especially but not limited to, exporting into Africa. 

Paul covered what is required to get covered by ECIC and how to go about insuring an export order. He stressed that a sales contract was vital to the process. To learn more about this exciting new benefit, please find Paul's contact details below.

Kenneth Research published a report titled 'Orthopedic Footwear Market: Global Demand and Analysis and Opportunity Outlook 2028' which delivers a detailed overview of the global orthopedic footwear market in terms of market segmentation by product, end-user, distribution channel, indication, and region.

Further, for the in-depth analysis, the report encompasses the industry growth indicators, restraints, supply, and demand risk, along with a detailed discussion on current and future market trends that are associated with the growth of the market.

The global orthopedic footwear market is anticipated to grow with a CAGR of 5.85% over the forecast period, i.e., 2021 - 2028. The market is segmented by product into slippers, sandals, and shoes, out of which, the shoe segment is anticipated to garner the largest revenue of USD 5190.57 Million by the end of 2028. Moreover, in the year 2020, the segment generated a revenue of USD 3336.78 Million.